What to Expect From Warframe 1999’s New Minigame

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 14, 2024 16 Views 5 Min Read
What to Expect From Warframe 1999’s New Minigame



Warframe‘s next big update will be launching with a new minigame, a retro-style run-and-gunner secreted within an in-game arcade. The new minigame coming to Warframe, rather than being spearheaded by Digital Extremes, has mainly been the project of Sumo Digital. Dubbed Caliber Chicks 2, it’s been part of in-universe lore for some time, teased within the game for over a year. Game Rant spoke with Warframe creative director Rebecca Ford and Caliber Chicks design director Nic Cusworth to learn more about what the game’s like, as well as what fans can gain from playing it.



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Warframe 1999’s Caliber Chicks Minigame Explained

Contra-Style Gameplay

When talking about the details surrounding what Caliber Chicks 2 will look like, Cusworth explained how classic run-and-gun titles inspired development. In particular, he highlighted the influence of the Contra series.

“The team at DE had already come up with character designs for the Caliber Chicks and had a vision for the game being a run-and-gun. It was down to us at Sumo what direction to take it. Looking at the time period we wanted to place the game, I went back to the games I was playing at the time. That was a lot of
Contra 3
on the SNES and
Gunstar Heroes
on the Megadrive.
Gunstar
particularly used to be my ‘cool down’ game.

I’d come home from work and just play it through. Something my aging reflexes are no longer able to do. Of course, being an arcade game,
Metal Slug
was also a big influence and was the guiding light on what the cutting edge in 2D arcade games were at the time.”


Cusworth also added more detail about how the game will work, saying that “the core loop is around 15 minutes long, spread over three pretty extensive and varied levels.” However, he also mentioned that “the game ends with events that send you back to the beginning of the game—only things have changed. With each loop the world gets a little weirder, and the challenge a lot trickier.” These concepts, adjacent to time travel, seem fitting for the themes surrounding Warframe: 1999.

Ford went further to describe how the game will impact Warframe‘s wider community. The game will have “global leaderboards for players to fight for the top spot for,” encouraging repeated play sessions and community involvement. All this effort into creating a faithful retro-style arcade game, according to Ford, is in large part there to support worldbuilding—to “make the Höllvania Central Mall mission hub feel more alive.”


The Rewards In Warframe’s Caliber Chicks 2

Ford went into detail about the rewards players can reap from playing this arcade minigame, many of which tie into what’s coming with Warframe: 1999. Players will also be able to attain numerous cosmetic rewards from the affair.

“Anyone investing time and effort into side content should be rewarded in some way. If players get far enough in Caliber Chicks they can earn a couple of glyphs and an emblem as rewards to use anywhere in the Origin System. Also, as you rank up in The Hex Syndicate with the Protoframes, Aoi will start offering Somachord tracks from Caliber Chicks to unlock.”

Furthermore, Ford clarified how much fans will have to invest to earn these Warframe rewards. When asked about whether the team was concerned that there may be a grind to the minigame, she mentioned that “there are small pieces of cosmetic content behind the mini-game, but [they] want people that feel invested in those side experiences to be rewarded fairly,” emphasizing its role as side content.

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